Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Hippo Goes Bananas!
Illustrator: Kevin O'Malley
Board book
For ages 1 to 4
Marshall Cavendish Children's Books, 2008 ISBN: 978-0761454489
One morning, hippo wakes up with a toothache and it hurts so much that he spins in a circle and crashes into a tree. Cuckoo Bird sees this extraordinary behavior and she flies off to tell Monkey. Of course, as so often happens when a story is told, things get rather exaggerated. Cuckoo Bird tells Monkey that Hippo is “knocking down every tree in the jungle,” and for good measure she adds “and…kicking them off the cliff.”
Monkey runs off to tell Leopard the news, who hears that Hippo is not only knocking down all the trees and kicking them off the cliff, but he is also “rolling them into the river.”
By the time Zebra hears about this calamity, the story is that Hippo has knocked down the trees, thrown them off a cliff, rolled them into the river, which is now dammed up so that the Serengeti is flooding! What on earth are the animals going to do about Hippo and his bizarre behavior? What will happen to their world if he is allowed to run amok?
Children are sure to laugh out loud when they see how Hippo’s story grows and grows as it is retold again and again. They will also laugh when they see how the problem is resolved and what happens in the end. With comical illustrations and an amusing story, this board book is sure to be a big hit with young children.
